The staff library has been burnt to the ground, the friendly atmosphere lost to time. Sunlight freely enters the library from where the now collapsed roof used to be, and wind freely blows through the compound. Charred and collapsed bookshelves litter the area, and the floor is covered in layers of ash from the former reading material. A few partially burnt chairs remain standing, and the fireplace has been left mostly untouched.

Maxim had made the decision he was going to fight his way off the island on the morning of Day 8.

It was during a differing state of mind, something he experienced once he realized once again how alone he was. He had been alone before, of course, but that was when this whole thing had started. And naturally, he'd found people once again. And even more naturally, he'd lost them, when Brendan ran after the one who tried to shoot them. Brendan, who had chosen to run rather than face the truth Maxim had been working up to explaining, the truth he'd accepted days beforehand when Junko was shot by another now dead boy, when he'd said his goodbyes to his dad and to his doctor and to the boy who ruined his life who once loved him. There was just no point in putting up that facade anymore.

And what was the facade for in the first place? That he had time and patience for a grade of people who had nothing of the sort for him. That he would be able to walk out of this thing grasping onto the little remainder of friends that he had, a remainder that was barebones enough as it was before this whole thing began. It wasn't a case of everyone dying trying to find the reason this whole thing had to happen in the first place. It was a case of Them, vs. a case of Maxim, and Maxim deserved it more than them. He had gone through hell at that school no matter how nice he was. He was ostracized not only for his interests but for his sexuality as well. He'd done nothing wrong. Ever. Yet bad things still happened to him, because that was how the world worked. People pretended to be friends with him until it was just plain inconvenient. The world had it out for him.

Of course, he had to believe that, no matter how untrue it was. It was better than accepting responsibility for his own actions, for his forcing himself on his friend, for treating people like pieces on a chess board that was moving too fast around him, and for just being a flat-out asshole. If he did that, he'd have to face the truth, that he was responsible for most of anything he faced and he couldn't just blame a cruel world who had it out for him.

But if he'd done that, then he probably wouldn't have taken up his bow and shot an arrow into the shoulder of Vanessa Stone.

He wouldn't have made the decision to play his way off the island, and he might have gotten some true self-reflection in.

Instead, here he was.

Maxim wasn't sure where the arrow was meant to hit, but either way it knocked Vanessa down in a single strike. For a moment, he'd thought maybe she'd been killed, ludicrous as that might have been, but in the following few she started scrambling away. If she'd gathered momentum Maxim might have been worried, but it was nothing but a weak pathetic crawl. Of course, that still meant he needed to act fast before she found help, and that would put his own game in peril.

The bag was filled to the brim with food, water, and arrows. But Maxim didn't know how long it would take to fumble another one in, given it took so long the first time. If only she was still, and not still able to move away. He needed time for that that he didn't have.

As he took the bow down, he felt a weight of metal and wood move along his side. Oh. Of course. Why not? It would be messy, and it was a step up from what Maxim originally wanted to do in terms of how he played this, but just like his doctor once said, unfamiliar situations were how he would learn to grow.

Placing the bow on the ground, Maxim pulled the hammer from his waistline into his hands and started walking towards the prone Vanessa.

v4
Brendan Wallace is a coward.
Clio Gabriella wanted to go home.
Paige Strand needed to run.
Jacob Charles had to put back his pieces.
Aston Bennett was better than you.
Ma'afu Tuigamala made the ultimate mistake.

Ezra Landau - "Pretty sure the point of life is to indulge and be pretty." - PhilosophyHayden Lockwood - "Come to the march this Saturday and I'll show you a good time." - PrideAllegra Varley - "Bet you I can jump from here to that boat." - RiskTruann Coleman - "Please stop saying that." - RageAnya Van Doren - "Dunno why I did it. Dunno why it's your business." - Duplicity

He was too close, she wasnt far enough. She ground her teeth against each other as she realised that she was royally fucked.

Running wasnt an option, and there was no way she could get her leg out of her bag in time, not with her arm like this and him right there. She flipped onto her back, pushing herself with her good arm and trying her hardest not to yell out from the pain in the bad one. The best she could stop at was a harsh grunt, as the blood spread out from her shoulder.

She looked up at Maxim, staring him in the face. She didnt dare look scared, channelled all her adrenaline into righteous anger. Her blazing stare couldve pierced a bulkhead, even as the sweat ran down her face.

Fuckin' bastard! she yelled, maintaining her eye contact as she grasped with her functioning hand for anything that could help. She saw the hammer he was holding in his hand, knew what it was for. Kept focusing on looking furious, rather than terrified.

She couldnt grasp anything. She couldnt find her balance to get up and run. She couldnt do anything that would give her the upper hand.

So she did the only thing she could think of, and spat right in his face.

When the spittle hit Maxim's cheek, an unfamiliar sensation came back. It wasn't something he expected, or something he wanted, or something he was even very familiar with. It felt like a knot was forming in his stomach, as he stared down at the girl with nothing but hate in her eyes.

If he was a few days younger, Maxim would have recognized it as the same feeling he felt when he kissed his best friend, humiliated himself, and destroyed his only true friendship all in the span of a single action. He would have realized that it would only get worse. And worse. And his stomach would twist itself so tight he would never recover from the pain, as it would burst open and consume every negative emotion and feeling set out in front of him.

But the only thing in front of him was his endgoal. Getting off the island. And in a literal sense, the girl with the piercing gaze.

In one swift motion, Maxim stepped his foot onto the girl's chest, gripped the hammer with both hands, and plummeted to earth.

v4
Brendan Wallace is a coward.
Clio Gabriella wanted to go home.
Paige Strand needed to run.
Jacob Charles had to put back his pieces.
Aston Bennett was better than you.
Ma'afu Tuigamala made the ultimate mistake.

Ezra Landau - "Pretty sure the point of life is to indulge and be pretty." - PhilosophyHayden Lockwood - "Come to the march this Saturday and I'll show you a good time." - PrideAllegra Varley - "Bet you I can jump from here to that boat." - RiskTruann Coleman - "Please stop saying that." - RageAnya Van Doren - "Dunno why I did it. Dunno why it's your business." - Duplicity

He was still coming, she hadnt stopped him. She hadnt thought it would stop him, but it should have stopped him. This wasnt supposed to be happening. It was happening too fast, too suddenly, and it wasn't supposed to be happening.

She tried to push herself back again, still trying to get away, but he was already on top of her. She winced under his foot on her chest, trying to twist him away, to free herself, but he was too heavy. The sun was hanging behind his face, blinding her when she tried to stare up at him. She tried to bring her bad arm up to shield herself, only to fail at that too.

Through gritted teeth, she started to whimper in the brief moment she had left. She wanted to beg, to plead. Anything to get away.

But she wasnt going to go out like that.

EAT SHIT AND DIE!

It was the last thing she screamed, as the hammer crashed down on her skull and caved it in.

Vanessa didn't go down in one blow. No, she was still moving after the first strike, so Maxim went again. She stopped moving after that. But Maxim didn't know, so instead of stopping, he kept hitting. Eventually, the cracking sound became a soft mush, as Vanessa's head and face turned to nothing.

This was how it was going to have to be. He didn't want to do this but it was the reality. Maybe if he really was some sort of psychopath he could find some sort of enjoyment out of it, but as it was, Maxim just felt ill. That tightening experience in his stomach continued, it did not loosen like it should have. He wanted to feel better, he wanted this girl's death to have some sort of good outcome, maybe like his own escape from the island and the escape of his constant well of negative feelings. But the goodness never came, he only felt worse.

Maxim stood up. The hammer dripped. Without betraying an emotion, he walked back to his bag and dropped the hammer. He hoped he would not have to deal with that thing for a while, especially considering he had no intention of wasting his own precious water washing the blood and gunk off. Instead, he picked up his other weapon, the bow with which he crippled the girl, and slung it around his shoulder. Maxim took an arrow from the bag, and held it in his fingers. If he was going to leave the island, he needed to get good with this.

Turning around, he returned to the now dead girl whose name was once Vanessa. He rifled through her belongings, both on her person and not. Nothing exceptional was on her, except another set of food for his own collection, a splintered leg with several protruding nails, and personal possessions which meant nothing to Maxim.

He turned around once again to retrieve his bag, only to stop in his tracks.

He was there, standing right by his bag.

If this were a situation with more normalcy involved, Maxim might have asked any number of things. Like how did he get there? What was he doing? Instead, this was a situation with much risk involved, especially to himself, so instead:

v4
Brendan Wallace is a coward.
Clio Gabriella wanted to go home.
Paige Strand needed to run.
Jacob Charles had to put back his pieces.
Aston Bennett was better than you.
Ma'afu Tuigamala made the ultimate mistake.

Ezra Landau - "Pretty sure the point of life is to indulge and be pretty." - PhilosophyHayden Lockwood - "Come to the march this Saturday and I'll show you a good time." - PrideAllegra Varley - "Bet you I can jump from here to that boat." - RiskTruann Coleman - "Please stop saying that." - RageAnya Van Doren - "Dunno why I did it. Dunno why it's your business." - Duplicity

He had tears in his eyes. They were itching and red. He didn't interfere. He couldn't. Raina took everything away from him.

"Why did you kill her?"

His love. His love who did not even know who he was. She did not know how he looked like. This was a bullshit bizarre situation. He killed for her, he killed to show her, to show her what she had done to him. But she did not realise.

She will never realise. She will always think that he was a murderer, a creep no more. She is dead now, though. And her memory? Her memory was gone. Her existance had been erased. Vanessa's beautiful face now just was. He couldn't look at her. No. Last week ago he wanted to marry her. He would have done anything to marry her. A week later she was not anymore.

Al died inside. Vanessa was just. Vanessa. All the things he had done for her.

Maxim was Al's friend, but. Maxim was hostile, just like Al had been hostile. He probably felt like Al felt before he knew that there were friendly people. Maxim probably listens to the terrorists. But he does not know the peaceful way Kizi suggested. If they had been peaceful they could have avoided this. If Lili, him, Raina, Penelope and Johnny would have recruited Maxim and Vanessa, Al would have two people he liked recruited. He would be able to speak with them once more before they would all die on this island. But that was not the case. Maxim killed Vanessa. Vanessa didn't want to be killed. She should have survived. She should have won the fight. Al rooted for Vanessa to overwhelm Maxim. All of Al's hate for Vanessa went away as he saw her once again. He used to hate her for what she did days ago, but Alessio completely forget all of that when he saw her again. But seeing her once again reminded him of the past. He fell in love with her again. Seeing her again evoked the feelings he felt everytime he saw her in school.

But now it's too late. For Vanessa. Not for Maxim. But for the more important living being out of the the two. The most important human of the island was dead. Vanessa was more worth than 106 lives.

Al was just standing there, after he came out from behind a bookshelf to stare at Maxim. His posture was him looking down. He held his fake gun in his hands, not pointing it at Maxim. It was not too late for Maxim. He would Kizi him.

At one point in Maxim's life, that name was a comfort. A friend. Now, it was a killer. Another killer, to be clear. Maxim could add that title to his own name now, discomforting as it was.

The alarming fact wasn't that Alessio was there. The alarming fact was that Alessio was there and he had a gun in his hands. And Maxim had nothing of the sort in his own.

He was standing a fair bit away, as was his bag. If he could just stall him, everything would turn out fine for him. As for Alessio, that remained to be seen. He didn't want to shoulder Alessio's burden, considering how he would have to be responsible for a far larger number of other kills if Maxim was going to get out alive.

v4
Brendan Wallace is a coward.
Clio Gabriella wanted to go home.
Paige Strand needed to run.
Jacob Charles had to put back his pieces.
Aston Bennett was better than you.
Ma'afu Tuigamala made the ultimate mistake.

Ezra Landau - "Pretty sure the point of life is to indulge and be pretty." - PhilosophyHayden Lockwood - "Come to the march this Saturday and I'll show you a good time." - PrideAllegra Varley - "Bet you I can jump from here to that boat." - RiskTruann Coleman - "Please stop saying that." - RageAnya Van Doren - "Dunno why I did it. Dunno why it's your business." - Duplicity

That was the Maxim he knew. The smart, witty German. Always had an answer for everything.

Alessio rubbed his teary eyes. How to tell him things. He could not tell him that he loved Vanessa. That would be embarrassing. Especially since all the world would be revealed his secret love. He had never told anyone about his crush on Vanessa. Not even his closest friends. It was just a secret for himself.

But now it didn't matter, did it? Vanessa was dead and nobody cared who he had a crush on.

Still, Alessio felt uncomfortable explaining himself to Maxim. But Alessio knew that he could talk.

"There. Is a group. A big group. We could join it, Maxim."

Alessio couldn't join it. But perhaps Maxim can.

"Their plan is to stop the game by slowing it down. Stopping the killing. To beat the people who put us in here."

v4
Brendan Wallace is a coward.
Clio Gabriella wanted to go home.
Paige Strand needed to run.
Jacob Charles had to put back his pieces.
Aston Bennett was better than you.
Ma'afu Tuigamala made the ultimate mistake.

Ezra Landau - "Pretty sure the point of life is to indulge and be pretty." - PhilosophyHayden Lockwood - "Come to the march this Saturday and I'll show you a good time." - PrideAllegra Varley - "Bet you I can jump from here to that boat." - RiskTruann Coleman - "Please stop saying that." - RageAnya Van Doren - "Dunno why I did it. Dunno why it's your business." - Duplicity

The person in front of Alessio was Alessio with the same thoughts he had some days ago. What would he have told to his past-self regarding his thoughts on game?

"I know that it's hopeless. I know we can't be saved. I know we are doomed."

Alessio put his gun back into his pocket. God, he needs to wash his jeans after going home.

"But dying in a group is better than dying alone. A human's uh life is worth much. We can delay our deaths in the group. We can spend our last days together in a group. We can spend our times as the class of Cochise. Not alone as victims of people who had killed. I wouldn't want to have died as the people I had killed. I wouldn't want to have died as Vanessa. I think dying in peace with friends...is...uh."

God, speaking was hard. He did not want to speak anymore. He just wants Maxim to get it.